Just a day after the Republican Party candidate in the US presidential elections, Donald Trump, opposed the AT&T’s proposed $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner Inc, Vermont Senator and Democratic Party leader, Bernie Sanders joined the similar call. Sanders, on Sunday, joined the political opposition to the mega deal by demanding the Obama administration to kill it. He tweeted that:(TWEET-AT-LINK) The buy out of Time Warner Inc — a media and entertainment conglomerate which also owns media organisations like CNN — by AT&T — a telecommunications behemoth — at $85.4 billion is considered one of the largest in the...

The optics advancement may solve an approaching data bottleneck by helping to boost computing power and information transfer rates tenfold BUFFALO, N.Y. — Like a whirlpool, a new light-based communication tool carries data in a swift, circular motion. Described in a study published today (July 28, 2016) by the journal Science, the optics advancement could become a central component of next generation computers designed to handle society’s growing demand for information sharing. It may also be a salve to those fretting over the predicted end of Moore’s Law, the idea that researchers will find new ways to continue making computers...

The Wi-Fi Alliance standards body has added new features to its 802.11ac specification that promise up to three times the speed of existing wi-fi devices and the potential to move data faster than wired, gigabit ethernet local area networks. Named Wi-Fi Certified ac, the new specification add-ons include multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) radio aerial technology. This allows more devices to connect to the wi-fi access point and send and receive simultaneously for better throughput and responsiveness, an important consideration in enterprise and events settings. Older wi-fi access points manage connections in a round-robin fashion, with only one device...

Well, what do you know: In 1980, after reported differences in communications strategy and just before the New Hampshire primary, Ronald Reagan fired his press secretary, Jim Lake, along with two other senior staffers. Ronald Reagan, the seasoned conservative, was in a pitched battle with his party's moderate, George H.W. Bush. The Reagan campaign was in debt and seemed not to have The Republican Establishment with him. In that moment, the future "Great Communicator," and arguably one of the best Commanders-in Chief the Nation has ever seen - who would later create 18 million American jobs with tax and spending...

Nationwide Air Force & Army COMEX communication GRID down exercise Friday 02/12/2016 http://blog.pwcares.org/?p=182 Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Events, PWCARES Air Force & Army MARS COMEX 2016/01/19 David Lane Air Force & Army MARS COMEX By: Clarence, K4CNM â€“ (AAA3R3, Army MARS Region Three Operations Officer) The Air Force and Army MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) will conduct their first 2016 communications exercise (COMEX) from 7:00 am until 6:59 pm EST on Friday, 12 February. The scenario will be: there is no power, no phones (cell or landline), and no internet. Also, internet linked radio repeaters (such as D-Star) should not...

The Intercept has obtained a secret government catalog that law enforcement agencies use to source even-more-secret cellular spying devices, mostly variants on the Stingray/Dirtbox, which pretend to be cellular towers in order to harvest the subscriber details of all the people within range (up to an entire city, for the airplane-mounted Dirtboxes). The catalog details the capabilities and costs of the different devices in use in at least 60 law enforcement agencies in the US, most of whom will not admit to owning them (this can go to absurd lengths, such as lying in court, or police-on-police raids to confiscate...

Dear (Elmhurst College) President Braskamp: I am sorry to have to write to you at such a busy time of year. However, it has become necessary to contact you in light of a series of disturbing and unwanted communications I have received from a member of your faculty. These unwanted communications, which are being sent to my work email address, are coming from the work email address of Professor Richard Greenleaf. These communications are particularly troubling given Richard Greenleaf's past employment as a law enforcement officer and his present employment as a criminal justice professor. Below is Greenleaf's latest email...

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump says the United States has "absolutely no choice" but to close down mosques where "some bad things are happening." "Nobody wants to say this and nobody wants to shut down religious institutions or anything, but you know, you understand it," Trump said on Fox News's "Hannity" on Tuesday. "A lot of people understand it. We're going to have no choice." Trump said on Monday he would "strongly consider" closing mosques if elected in response to the terrorist attacks in France last Friday that killed at least 129 people and injured hundreds more. Pressed to explain...

For years Americans' right to privacy, as granted by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, has come under threat as the country's surveillance systems have grown. After intelligence leaks by former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden, however, the NSA's domestic dragnet is finally getting the attention that many people feel it deserves.

The latest snips occurred Tuesday, when someone sliced at least three fiber-optic cables in an underground vault in Alameda County east of San Francisco. The cuts disrupted Internet and phone service around Sacramento for 20 hours before service was restored.

When an event occurs that disrupts everyday life and your trusty smart phone becomes a brick, don’t be left deaf, dumb and speechless. If you don’t think the cell phone networks are fragile then you need to think again. We have become so dependent on communication that without it, most level-headed people would lose their minds. As commo people, we need to think of ways to keep our team on the up and up. Not all of us are radio nerds so we also have to think of the “other guys”.REQUIREMENTS: You need short-range communications (around town/neighborhood) FRS is...

How is it possible to live in the midst of millions and still feel alone? Think of the walls between our homes, the single occupant cars inching along on our slow-moving parking lots known as LA freeways, and our dependence on digital Facebook “friends” and smart phone texting instead of actually getting together and talking. With hundreds of channels to choose from, the easiest way to host a “party” without having to feed anyone is to leave on your television. A different group of “friends” is just one station change away. The American dream has never been meant to...

Ships are not responsible for damaging undersea internet cables in the Mediterranean, Egypt's Government says. Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia. A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said. Egypt's transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged....

NEW DELHI (AFP) - - Another Middle East undersea Internet cable has been damaged, adding to disruption in Indian online services caused when several lines were cut earlier this week, a cable operating firm said Saturday. The Falcon cable was cut 56 kilometres (35 miles) from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner FLAG Telecom, part of India's Reliance Communications. The company said on its website that a repair ship had been notified and was expected to arrive at the site in the next few days. The cause of the latest cable damage was not...

Lambasting what he termed “a confusing cacophony of competing private providers,” President Obama called for government “to step in and simplify everything by consolidating all broad band service under one umbrella.” “Right now, consumers face the continuous burden of choosing which plan to purchase,” the President pointed out. “There’s always a fear of choosing unwisely. If we eliminate this necessity to choose, consumers will be freed from this task. Instead of being faced with a difficult dilemma of what to do if their current provider is unsatisfactory, all consumers will be enrolled in a standard, uniform service. No one would...

Get ready for the Department of Broadband. On Monday, President Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a public utility—like water or electricity—under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. The goal: “to protect net neutrality,” Mr. Obama said in a White House YouTube video, an ironic venue for announcing a monumentally bad idea that could strangle the Internet. For years the FCC has been inching toward imposing net-neutrality rules, which are sold as a way to ban Internet service providers from discriminating against content providers. In reality such rules would dictate what ISPs...

The Austrian-born Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr is being given an honorary grave in Vienna's Central Cemetery on Friday, ahead of her 100th birthday on November 9th. Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna in 1914. Not only was she known as one of the most beautiful women of her day, but she also invented a technology that enables the mass use of mobile phones and other wireless communications. She died in Florida in 2000, aged 85. On the anniversary of her 100th birthday Austria’s Film Museum is screening a documentary about her. Lamarr garnered a degree of fame...

A new feature being added to the LTE protocol that smartphones use to communicate with cellular towers will make it possible to bypass those towers altogether. Phones will be able to “talk” directly to other mobile devices and to beacons located in shops and other businesses. Known as LTE Direct, the wireless technology has a range of up to 500 meters, far more than either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It is included in update to the LTE standard slated for approval this year, and devices capable of LTE Direct could appear as soon as late 2015. LTE Direct has been pioneered...

FBI Director James B. Comey sharply criticized Apple and Google on Thursday for developing forms of smartphone encryption so secure that law enforcement officials cannot easily gain access to information stored on the devices — even when they have valid search warrants. His comments were the most forceful yet from a top government official but echo a chorus of denunciation from law enforcement officials nationwide. Police have said that the ability to search photos, messages and Web histories on smartphones is essential to solving a range of serious crimes, from murder to child pornography to attempted terrorist attacks. “There will...

Communications is a key element in our everyday lives. If you don’t believe me, try going a whole day with no cell phone, Internet, television, or any other means of communications (COMMS). So it stands to reason that having COMMS, when SHTF, is essential to gaining intelligence (COMINT), the safety and security of your family, keeping informed, and keeping at least one step ahead of anybody with bad intentions. Like any skill, it is essential to practice; that means practicing before SHTF, so that you have the necessary skills. While most of the communications methods discussed in this article are...

Like many [ultra-secure phones], the CryptoPhone 500...features high-powered encryption. Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, says the phone also runs a customized or "hardened" version of Android that removes 468 vulnerabilities that his engineering team team found in the stock installation of the OS. His mobile security team also found that the [standard] Samsung Galaxy SIII leaks data to parts unknown 80-90 times every hour. [snip] To show what the CryptoPhone can do that less expensive competitors cannot, he points me to a map that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as...

Forty years ago, a group of researchers with military money set out to test the wacky idea of making computers talk to one another in a new way, using digital information packets that could be traded among multiple machines rather than telephonic, point-to-point circuit relays. The project, called ARPANET, went on to fundamentally change life on Earth under its more common name, the Internet. Today, the agency that bankrolled the Internet is called the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which boasts a rising budget of nearly $3 billion split across 250 programs. They all have national security implications...

Roof Knocking is the Israeli military's tactic of phoning Palestinians it is about to bomb. Before the Israeli Military bombs your house, it is not uncommon for many Gaza Strip residents to get a phone call. Can you imagine getting such a phone call, knowing it's serious, knowing they literally have got your number and have viewed within via drones? It happens a lot in this part of the world. Sawsan Kawarea, a resident of Khan Younis, said she was in her home earlier this week when the phone rang. She answered, and on the other side was 'David', who...

If you think that the world's greatest inventions came from the fevered minds of solitary geniuses, think again. As you scan this list of the 10 inventions that changed the world, note how many of them perfected workable designs. 10. Plow Compared to some of the gleaming, electronic inventions that fill our lives today, the plow doesn't seem very exciting. It's a simple cutting tool used to carve a furrow into the soil, churning it up to expose nutrients and prepare it for planting. Yet the plow is probably the one invention that made all others possible. No one knows...

“Anyone, subscriber or not, can get a free copy of the November and December Popular Communications to download as a PDF on the Popular Communications site.“ Simply go to the Popular Communications website to download your copies (download by clicking on the November and December front covers)...." .....;

Q: Could you please explain what "ratum sed non consummatum" means with respect to marriage? I always thought that this was an antiquated term that no longer had any relevance, but recently I encountered it [in a current context]… Why would it matter to the Church whether a marriage has been consummated or not? –Fiona A: The Latin phrase ratum sed non consummatum is translated literally as “ratified but not consummated,” and it has been used by theologians and canonists in regard to matrimony for many centuries. These four Latin words actually contain a wealth of information about the way...

50 Years ago today . . . Long before smartphones and text messages made the world instantly available with a split-second tap, reaching out to touch someone could take a full 10 seconds. That was just to dial a number, ticked out one deliberate digit at a time, on a mechanical wheel owned by the phone company. Monday marks 50 years since the United States began saying goodbye to the classic rotary phone, replaced by touch-tone services that slashed dialing time and foreshadowed a digital revolution that keeps reshuffling everyday communication. The push-buttons became an especially big deal in Western...

Whether you like it or not, in politics, the aggressor usually shapes the debate. This means that, in terms of political messaging, it’s best to be on offense so that you can advance your agenda on your own terms and on your own schedule. The reverse scenario is that you get blindsided and are forced to respond to your opposition. The more unprepared someone is to respond, the less effective their response will be, and the more likely that they’re constantly playing defense. In American politics, liberals (excuse me, “progressives”) are usually the aggressors. Generally speaking, it's liberals who want...

Am looking for information about how to communicate in emergencies. I live about 20 miles from where I work. I am an attorney, and need to get word to the Courthouse if I am not able to get where I am supposed to be due to a combination of physical obstacles plus no phone service. I am on dial-up internet, so if there's no phone, there's no Internet. I am 1/2 mile from a paved road, so if there is no vehicle, there's no way out. There's no cell phone service in my area - have to drive about 10...

We take privacy for granted. Too often we mistakenly assume that we are the only ones privy to our personal information. We assume it is within our discretion to decide who has access to the most intimate details of our personal lives –unfortunately, as the latest headlines have shown, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The National Security Agency has implemented policies undermining the expectation of privacy that every American assumes they have. I say “assumes” because after the “Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management” program (aka PRISM) came to light, it is obvious that Americans no...

US President Barack Obama quietly signed his name to an Executive Order on Friday, allowing the White House to control all private communications in the country in the name of national security. President Obama released his latest Executive Order on Friday, July 6, a 2,205-word statement offered as the “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.” And although the president chose not to commemorate the signing with much fanfare, the powers he provides to himself and the federal government under the latest order are among the most far-reaching yet of any of his executive decisions. “The Federal Government must have...

You’re not running a domestic terrorism group (well, there are those new DHS criteria…). You’re not even sending around emails about what a dismal failure President Obama’s administration is (THIS hour, anyway). You just want to be able to chat with friends, conduct your financial business, and argue with your spouse without Big Daddy Gummint all up in your biz. Believe it or not, that’s your right. Harry “Who Cares” Reid may blow it off and say the government’s been “doing that stuff for years,”but we’ve got a news flash for Harry: just because you’ve been doing it a while...

Inside Iraqi Corruption Charles R. Smith Tuesday, March 29, 2005 John A. Shaw is a curious example of Washington politics gone mad. Shaw is a veteran government employee who served inside the White House under Presidents Ford, Nixon and Reagan and was an associate deputy secretary in the Department of Commerce. In 2001, Shaw was appointed by Bush Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld to head the newly formed Office of International Technology Security. In this post, Shaw began the difficult task of reforming government controls over the export of sensitive technology to foreign countries. In 2003, Shaw began investigating allegations of...

There used to be a basic distinction between military and humanitarian aid. Military aid meant weapons. Humanitarian aid meant medical and food supplies. Nonlethal aid blends the two together by combining medical supplies with military gear into something that is military aid, but pretends not to be. Nonlethal aid is not humanitarian aid. It’s military aid that you give to enemy forces that you want to see win, but whom you don’t trust. It’s military aid that bypasses international blocks on military aid. Nonlethal aid is dishonest. It tries to make military aid sound humanitarian by emphasizing defense rather...

Matt Lauer and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan appear on NBCâ€™s â€śTodayâ€ť show in New York in this handout photo taken Feb. 11. The cardinal talked about Pope Benedict XVIâ€™s announcement earlier that morning that he will resign as pope at the end of the month. The 85-year-old pontiff said he no longer has the energy to exercise his ministry over the universal church. (CNS photo/Peter Kramer, NBC via Reuters) VATICAN CITY (CNS) â€” Parrots may squawk in the Vatican Gardens during a conclave, but the cardinals are not allowed to tweet.For most of the 117 red-vested princes of...

Where are the communications that were sent from the mission in Benghazi just before and during the attack? Are we to believe that Ambassador Stevens and his highly trained men never let anyone know what was going on, or asked for help? It is hard for me to believe that there was a live feed of the attack back to the situation room of the White House, but that there was no information sent by the people who were under attack, and that there were no requests from them. What did they say? What did they ask? What were they...

A dash of algebra on wireless networks promises to boost bandwidth tenfold, without new infrastructure. Academic researchers have improved wireless bandwidth by an order of magnitude—not by adding base stations, tapping more spectrum, or cranking up transmitter wattage, but by using algebra to banish the network-clogging task of resending dropped packets. By providing new ways for mobile devices to solve for missing data, the technology not only eliminates this wasteful process but also can seamlessly weave data streams from Wi-Fi and LTE—a leap forward from other approaches that toggle back and forth. "Any IP network will benefit from this technology,"...

For Immediate Release July 06, 2012 Executive Order -- Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions EXECUTIVE ORDER - - - - - - - ASSIGNMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and...

The FCC is currently seeking public comments on whether or not it is appropriate and feasible to grant local police forces the power to shut down mobile phone networks.The request for the public’s input comes after BATR officials in San Fransisco shut down cell towers in an attempt to stop a first amendment protected protest for “public safety” reasons.An article published by CFO World broke down the FCC request in an easy to understand fashion: The FCC asks several questions in its request for comments. Among them:– When have government agencies in the U.S. considered interrupting mobile service?– When would...

NOTE The following news release is a quote: www.ice.gov/news/releases/1202/120206denver.htm FEBRUARY 6, 2012 DENVER, CO Chinese national indicted in Colorado for trying to illegally export to China radiation-hardened computer circuits used in satellite communications DENVER – Philip Chaohui He, aka Philip Hope, a Chinese national, made his initial appearance in U.S. district court on Thursday after he was named in a three-count indictment charging him with attempting to export defense articles without U.S. State Department authorization. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney John Walsh, District of Colorado and Michael A. Holt, special agent in charge of the Denver office of...

When the Obama administration announced on Saturday its opposition to major elements of two Congressional bills intended to curtail copyright violations on the Internet, the technology industry, which has been loudly fighting the proposed legislation, could declare victory. But few people in Silicon Valley or Hollywood consider the battle over. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood studios and is a principal proponent of the antipiracy legislation, suggested that it would continue to push the administration to approve a modified version of the bills, known as the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act. “Look...

SEOUL (Reuters) - Secretive North Korea is expected to register the one millionth cellphone user on its new 3G network by the end of the year, barely four years after people were thrown into prison camps, or possibly even executed, for owning one. Most of the users are in the capital of Pyongyang, home to the impoverished country's elite and powerful who have the cash to splash out for a device and the calling fees. "There has been an astronomical increase since even two years ago," said Michael Hay, a lawyer and business consultant based in the capital for the...

Email correspondence and handwritten notes obtained today by Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars and this correspondent provide details on information and strategy being shared between top level officials of the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including between Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and then-ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson. A total of seven documents are presented herein, including: A Feb. 4, 2011 letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Weich denying the walking of guns, itself the subject of a Feb. 8 Gun Rights Examiner column. Email correspondence between Breuer and Melson. The assignment of...

Cue the outrage button. A South Florida woman got a shock when she opened a recent cell phone bill: she owed $201,000. Say what! It was no mistake. Celina Aarons has her two deaf-mute brothers on her plan. They communicate by texting and use their phones to watch videos. Normally, that's not a problem. Aarons has the appropriate data plan, and her bill is about $175. But her brothers spent two weeks in Canada and Aarons never changed to an international plan. Her brothers sent over 2,000 texts and also downloaded videos, sometimes racking up $2,000 in data charges. T-Mobile...

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the largest manufacturers of computer memory, Samsung, have created a new kind of flash memory that uses graphene—atom-thick sheets of pure carbon—along with silicon to store information. Incorporating graphene could help extend the viability of flash memory technology for years to come, and allow future portable electronics to store far more data. Chipmakers pack increasing amounts of data in the same physical area by miniaturizing the memory cells used to store individual bits. Inside today's flash drives, these cells are nanoscale "floating gate" transistors. Recent years have seen the...

Tips for Communicating in an Emergency by: Jamie Barnett, Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau August 27th, 2011 I want to share some important emergency information to you for during the storm so that you and your family stay safe.Recommended Practices for All Users It is important for consumers to keep in mind that during an emergency, many more people are trying to use their wireless and wireline telephones at the same time when compared to normal calling activity. When more people try to call at the same time, the increased calling volume may create network congestion. Limit...